The Blood-Soaked Crescent Theory
by Happy Dickfart
Summary: You want to know why Zinnia isn't in Sun and Moon? I'll tell you exactly why! The biggest clue was glaring at you if you looked into Pokemon Moon's Mega Evolution Pokedex entries.


The Blood-Soaked Crescent Theory

AsunaIsMyWaifu 01.04.17 writes:

Hey guys. I'm new to this forum and don't really know what I'm doing, but I have a shocking discovery for you all. I hope you'll all consider this and refrain from calling me a fag, or anything like that.

There was a jarring amount of criticism for Pokemon when the jump from Gen 6 to Gen 7 occurred. Game fans were puzzled by the fact that there was never a Pokemon Z, for example, and anime fans were appalled by the artistic direction the show was going in and were sad to see Serena go. But perhaps the most pressing concern, at least to me, was this: Why had a certain Lorekeeper from ORAS never shown up at the Battle Tree? After all, Zinnia brought a breadth of depth to Hoenn lore, she was good enough challenge as long as you refused to use Mega Rayquaza like I did, and she had the best battle theme in Pokemon history. She was a shoe-in for returning in the next game, so why?

Well, I know why, and it was all very shocking to me, so I hope you'll forgive me if I get a bit emotional.

Let me start from the beginning.

You see, I wasn't all that invested in Pokemon since Emerald. I'd more or less stopped caring, but the hours of pure delight that I had spent with my Blaziken were something that I treasured. When I heard Ruby and Sapphire were getting a remake, that had my attention. It was a chance to satisfy my nostalgia and see what these new Pokemon games were all about.

It was well worth the forty bucks! I selected Alpha Sapphire and immediately I was hooked. It was beautiful, the characters were so emotive, their redesigns were phenomenal, the animated sprites were life-like, the music was fantastic, and being able to fly around on Mega Latias was a treasure. I absolutely loved it, and couldn't understand why I had never tried a newer Pokemon game before. I must have gotten too swept up in the nostalgia crowd. Needless to say, I was wrong. I sank well over a hundred hours into the game altogether, and before I knew it I had defeated Steven and won. That was it, I thought, until the words "Delta Episode" appeared.

Wow, so cool, I thought. Yet another unique experience, and an all new character named Zinnia, who quickly became my favorite. She was delightful, kind, a bit quirky, and even kind of hot, but I didn't truly appreciate her until I heard her battle theme for the first time. I kid you not, my jaw dropped.

But enough about that, you all get it. I loved ORAS and I loved Zinnia, so imagine my disappointment when, one year later, I splurged on Pokemon Moon, despite knowing next to nothing about it. After all, my faith in Pokemon was fully restored, so why wouldn't I? I had even borrowed my sister's copy of Pokemon X and played that all the way through beforehand, so the Pokemon high was real. Even so, while Moon was decent enough for what it was and had an excellent cast of characters, I could not help but feel a bit slighted when I reached the Battle Tree. It was fun to battle Red for sure, as I remember him from FireRed, a good game, but not one I played as much as Emerald.

The rest of the tree? I dunno. Wally was there, but it bugs me that he has a shitty Gallade instead of the vastly superior Gardevoir. I didn't really recognize most of the others because they were in games I hadn't played.

The reason I felt slighted, though, was because Zinnia wasn't there. The rising star of ORAS and the queen of my heart was completely absent. I was at a loss for words, guys. I could not accept this glaring oversight by Nintendo and GameFreak and wanted to scream. Where was Zinnia? What happened to Zinnia? There had better be a DAMN good explanation.

So I embarked on a journey with Google to find the answers that I needed, but everything I found was a bunch of conjecture and outdated psychobabble on youtube. Naturally this did not sit right with me, as I was so emotionally invested in Zinnia and had to get to the bottom of this right away. I sifted through hundreds of webpages and youtube videos, absorbing hours of crap I just didn't care about, until I came across something that looked promising.

Some of you may not know this, but GameFreak did have two more games in the works for Gen 6: Pokemon Z and Pokemon Delta Emerald. These projects were canceled because the company wanted to push Sun and Moon instead, and it didn't make sense to tangle the two gens, so Gen 7 won out. What a bummer that is; however, both games were brought to just a complete enough state that they had beta-testers. I happened upon one of those testers, and he sold Delta Emerald to me for fifty bucks. Needless to say, I was stoked.

It was just as good as ORAS, guys. I flew through it this time, selecting Treecko as my starter this time, loving every second. But one of the coolest things about this game was that it had Pokedex entries for the Mega Evolutions, just like in Pokemon Sun and Moon. I read through a bunch of them, laughing at some, frowning at others, but then I got to the creepiest one of all, Mega Salamence: "Mega Evolution fuels its brutality, and it may even turn on the Trainer who raised it. It's been dubbed "the blood-soaked crescent."

That seemed a bit macabre for a Pokemon game and it didn't sit right with me, but I just shrugged it off and pressed on. Surely the writers just had a bad sense of humor.

I continued through the game, getting all eight badges, fighting the elite 4, defeating Steven, and highly anticipating the Delta Episode, which was bound to be expanded upon in Delta Emerald version.

And I wasn't disappointed! First of all, a dream come true happened right off the bat for me. Zinnia joined my party at the Devon Corporation as a doubles battle partner and an occasional healer. This came in useful when I embarked on the Regi sidequests, where they added some additional dialog from Zinnia. They even included her sprite on Latias while flying, who sat behind the player character with her arms around their waist. It was such a small touch, but it was like heaven to me. I could fly around with Zinnia forever and be so happy. I never wanted it to end.

I also felt the need to make progress in the story, but every time I went where I was actually supposed to in the story, such as Meteor Falls, Zinnia would stop me and ask, "Are you sure?" Well, no, I wasn't, but I selected Yes and continued ahead with the story.

It was normal at first. I encountered trainers, I used Max Repels to keep weak Pokemon away, and I kept on moving. There was nothing out of the ordinary going on, and every time I turned to talk to Zinnia she would tell me, "he's getting restless." That's all she would say. She wouldn't heal my Pokemon, or anything. It was mildly frustrating and a bit strange, but I didn't really question it. It wouldn't be a challenge if talking to her healed my party every time, considering that she was always right there behind me. She and I double-battled the old married couple, her Salamence and my Sceptile making quick work of them.

Then we reached the stairs, and again she asked, "Are you sure?" I selected yes and kept going.

Once I reached the top of Meteor Falls, though, I knew something wasn't right. Steven and the Old Draconid lady were at the top of the falls, as they should have been. Once they started talking, though, Zinnia turned and walked away without a word. Not only was that strange, but I noticed what appeared to be a sliver of blood trickling down the stream behind Steven and gulped. Then some of the old lady's dialog gave me goosebumps. "Balance must rule this world. History is doomed to repeat itself. While our people have overcome many disasters in the past, it was always through great, great sacrifice. Yet we have continued to struggle to preserve peace for as many years as we can. That is how we have protected this world, upon which we now live. People... Pokemon... All nature... And, yes, even you. I do not know exactly what you plan to do. But do you believe that you are not sacrificing anything for your own protection? Zinnia will follow her convictions until the very end, even knowing the sacrifices that they will require. Even if the sacrificial blade is leveled at her own heart."

History is doomed to repeat itself? The sacrificial blade leveled at her own heart? Was this the actual dialog in Alpha Sapphire? I thought to myself, feeling like that was weird for such a light-hearted Pokemon game as this. The blood trickling downstream did nothing to ease my anxiety. Then Steven was gone, and I had to leave too to make some progress in the game, though I wasn't sure I wanted to now. After all, I'm not a fan of scary, creepy things and I didn't want anything like that to happen, but it was out of my new found love and respect for Pokemon that I kept on playing.

I started descending Meteor Falls, and what I saw was something out of a nightmare. More blood-splatter, and the old couple at the bottom, dead in a pool of their own blood. Zinnia was standing over their bodies, and when I spoke to her all she would say, again, is "he's getting restless." WHO? Who is getting restless? Why did this murder happen? How was this even OK? No wonder Nintendo never released this garbage! Nothing about this was child friendly!

I wanted to stop playing right then and there, but I just couldn't. I felt it was my duty to complete it, so I could warn others of what they'd be getting into with this one. I used Escape Rope to get back to Route 115, and when I appeared outside Zinnia was beside me once again. I hopped on Latias with her and we went in the direction of Rustboro. I thought maybe the calming music and the delight of having Zinnia with me would cheer me up, but it just wasn't the same now. She'd stood before two dead bodies surrounded by blood, and her only explanation was "he's getting restless." I couldn't take it, guys.

So I went to Rustboro and Mossdeep, where I would find Steven and battle Team Aqua beside him. There was nothing to it really, and the cutscene with Zinnia seemed mostly unchanged. That is to say, I couldn't find anything particularly wrong with it. The Zinnia I admired, who encouraged the protagonist not to go through with sending the meteor into another dimension, was there, and though I initially felt relief, I still wondered what was going on, and hoped that bloody bit at Meteor Falls was just someone's idea of a cruel joke and not in any way pivotal to the story.

And for awhile, it seemed like exactly that, until I reached the Sky Pillar. I took out Wallace's Team without too much trouble, but once I reached the entrance, Zinnia asked once again, "are you sure?" and I wanted to throw my 3DS. Why? WHY? What were they building up to? It was making me sick to my stomach and I couldn't stand it. Even so, I had to suck it up and press on. I'd already gotten this far, and being the completionist that I am, I wasn't going to stop until it was over.

So I braved my way through the Sky Pillar, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, aside from having Zinnia beside me. Her dialog seemed mostly unchanged, though I wasn't so sure at this point and I didn't research it line-for-line against ORAS, because what would come next was absolutely horrifying and I never want to relive it.

Once we were at the top, Zinnia started talking again, and although the dialog was unchanged, it had taken on a whole new meaning for me. While she was talking, she started speaking of Aster, the former Lorekeeper. "We were always together, in good times and in bad. I loved her. I loved her with everything that I had." Her face turned downward, somber. "But I still lost her...Hahaha... I want to see her... I want to be with her again... My sweet Aster..."

I heard the cry of a Pokemon, but it wasn't her Whismur, and it wasn't Rayquaza. At the time it seemed out of place, and my frustration only grew when Zinnia, once again, said "he's getting restless."

I thought she'd meant Rayquaza initially, but then the fight with Rayquaza proceeded as normal. I had saved my Master Ball for it because it was a bitch to catch in Alpha Sapphire and I had wasted the ball on Kyogre at the time. Stupid, I know, but I'm admittedly not that great at Pokemon, so yeah. Also, I didn't want to drag out that fight. I wanted to finish this chapter and move on with my life

Anyway, once I'd caught Rayquaza, everything seemed as it should. Zinnia was challenging me to a fight to prove my worth, and the cry of Mega Salamence, the pokemon I'd heard earlier without realizing, erupted through my speakers in a piercing shrill. That was different. Indeed, Mega Salamence exploded from its pokeball, and Zinnia said, "he's getting restless."

So that's what she meant.

But wait, did that mean her Mega Salamence was the one who killed that old couple at Meteor Falls? Surely it couldn't have. That'd be way too dark for a Pokemon game.

The battle got going, and she sent out Goodra first as I expected her to. My strategy was to sweep her team with Mega Rayquaza just to see what the hell was up with her Mega Salamence even faster. Dragon Pulse took out her Goodra, Tyrantrum, Altaria, and Noivern with relative ease, but by the time Mega Salamence was out, I just about pissed myself. Its wings were stained with blood, and even though Rayquaza had the speed, type, and level advantage, it was unable to take out Mega Salamence in one hit like the others. Instead of following any formal battle command from Zinnia, Mega Salamence flew through Mega Rayquaza and one hit KO'd it.

How could that even be? Rayquaza was the strongest Pokemon in my party. It was like a running gag in the fandom that Zinnia's party was easily massacred by Mega Rayquaza, to the point where some shit eating fanboys would dare to imply that my favorite character sucks. Well, joke's on them now, because Mega Salamence got quite a boost. The next Pokemon I sent out was Froslass, who was five levels weaker than Salamence, but I hoped the speed and type advantages, and the small possibility of freezing it would give me an edge. No dice. My Froslass was cleaved in two, and this time there was some dialog from Zinnia. "Salamence, that's enough!"

The battle didn't end, though. I was forced to send out another pokemon. Sceptile this time. One hit KO, but it at this point it didn't seem to be Zinnia's doing at all.

"Salamence, return!"

Salamence did not return, and I was forced to send out another goat. I was in tears by now, knowing I would lose, but also fearing what was to come. I sent out Espeon. KO. I send out Skarmory. KO. My last Pokeman was my HM whore, a level 46 Linoone. I was so fucked, and angry. There was no reason for Mega Salamence to be this OP. Nintendo and GameFreak really dropped the ball on that one. I accepted inevitable defeat, throwing my hands in the air, waiting to be told I had blacked out and ran to the nearest Pokemon Center.

That's not what happened, though.

Instead there was a cutscene, the protagonist at their knees and probably crying. All pokemon were defeated, if not dead altogether. Mega Salamence was still out, and Zinnia exclaimed "How could you, Salamence? You've killed us all by taking out Rayquaza like that!"

That was when Mega Salamence turned and flew into her, a metallic slice burst through my ears. And then I remembered: "Mega Evolution fuels its brutality, and it may even turn on the Trainer who raised it. It's been dubbed "the blood-soaked crescent."

I ran into the bathroom and threw up, the horrible truth of my Zinnia revealed to me at last. She didn't show up in Pokemon Sun and Moon because she couldn't. She was dead. Mega Salamence had killed her. It was all right there in Pokemon Moon's pokedex could I have been so blind?

Then Mega Salamence took its rage all the way up to the meteor and destroyed that, too, effectively saving Hoenn, but not for the sake of being a hero. It only did so for the challenge, having been driven mad with power. Meanwhile, the game faded to black, and my protagonist was back in their bedroom. I'd gone downstairs to speak with my mother, and all she could say was "what a terrible ordeal you've been through." That's when I realized there were no pokemon in my party, and when I tried to leave the house mom said once again, "what a terrible ordeal you've been through" and that was the end.

I can't believe it. I just can't. Sure, now that I think about it, it's perfectly reasonable that such a storyline can exist in a multiverse of infinite possibilities, but how in the fuck did Nintendo and GameFreak think it was OK to include this in an official Pokemon title, even if it was never released? What was the production team thinking? Well, I'll tell you one thing. I've lost all respect for the franchise now, and my fond memories of ORAS are permanently tarnished. Thanks, assholes, for ruining Pokemon and Zinnia for me.

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243 Comments

Top Comments

MegaGardevoir42 replied: Wow, I didn't know there was a Pokemon DeltaEmerald, although it makes sense why none of us have ever heard of it. What a terrible ordeal that must have been for you. :(

988 upvotes, 37 downvotes

BoobsAreTheTits replied: fag

345 upvotes, 762 downvotes

TheRealMarkiplier replied: A SCARY WAY TO BREAK UP! DO NOT stop reading this or something bad will happen!

One day, Sarah was walking home from school when her boyfriend drove by and honked at her to get in. She got in his car and he drove her to the lake. Her boyfriend said he was going to tell her something very important.

Sarah could have sworn he was going to propose. However, he flicked her off, pushed her in the lake and yelled, "I am breaking up with you, you awful ….! I hate you and I think that maybe you should just end your ….. life! DUMB …..!"

He laughed and drove off. It was a very cold day. Sarah climbed out of the lake, freezing cold, and feeling the worst she had in her entire life. She got home went in a hot bath, and slit her wrists and died in the bathtub.

Her parents yelled and screamed at her to get out until they finally broke the door down. They saw no body, but the entire bathroom was dripping with her blood. Her mom went insane and killed herself three days later, her dad is in prison, accused of murder.

Later that week, Sarah's exboyfriend was taking a shower when she came from the drain, rotting and bloody, with a razor in her hand and said "Goodbye Jason." She cut his throat before he could scream.

If you do not repost this with the title "1 scary way to break up", you are a heartless …..and Sarah come to you in the shower from the drain, and will kill you the same way she killed her boyfriend. 24 ppl have broken this chain and died

You have 13 minutes

42 upvotes, 683 downvotes

HipsterJesus replied: Dude, there's literally no way Nintendo and GameFreak would do something that stupid and horrific. It's probably just a really good rom hack. Chill.

3014 upvotes, 12 downvotes


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